Family Advertisement
by sassy-sam-i
Summary: Marinette and her family plan to create an advertisement for their bakery. Adrien comes along, eager to help out a cute classmate and get to know her. Somewhere along the way, the joking turns to flirting, and feelings are brought to the surface. Reveal fic with some cute Adrinette thrown in. Funny/joking/humor basically throughout the whole thing.
1. Eager to Help

Marinette sat in Ms. Bustier's class, pencil moving furiously across her sketchbook. Tom and Sabine had decided that it was time to make an advertisement for their bakery. Her parents wanted Marinette to model with their food for a billboard type of sign. Of course Marinette saw this as an opportunity to show off her designing skills.

Alya peeked over Marinette's shoulder at her new work in progress. "What are these new designs for?" Alya asked. Nino and Adrien leaned back, eavesdropped.

"My parents want to do some advertising, with me in it," Marinette replied, frown adorning her face. "So I am just fiddling with new designs that I can wear." She sighed as she erased and scribbled down more notes.

Adrien's interest peaked. _Marinette's going to be modeling?_ His mind went to the gutter, thinking of modeling that her parents would _most definitely_ not approve of, and he shook his head to get those thoughts out. Other questions flitted through his head and he opened his mouth to ask them. "Hey Marinette? Who is going to be your photographer? And have you figured out where you are putting up your ads and all that?"

Her eyes widened when Adrien started talking. "I-I… Photographer we don't - I-I mean w-we don't have a photographer or anything yet," she stuttered, her face burning bright. Heat flooded through her body, seeming to be focused on her cheeks.

Adrien looked at her earnestly, instantly making a decision. "I could help you out with all that." He rubbed the back of his neck, realizing that maybe she didn't want to work with him. He had sort of pulled that offer out of nowhere. "I mean if you want. There are some bad, cheating people out there that wouldn't mind getting a few extra bucks from overpricing their services…" he trailed off somewhat awkwardly.

Marinette's jaw was dropped in astonishment. _He wants to help me?_ "O-of course! T-that would be just perfect!" She started to ramble. "We've been trying to find one for a while, comparing a bunch and just not quite finding what we are looking for and-"

Adrian cut her off, and Marinette dropped her flailing arms. "Why don't you use Vincent? He's my Italian photographer. I'm sure that he would be happy to help."

Alya turned to Marinette and whispered, "Oh my gosh! Adrien's photographer! You have to!" Marinette nodded in a stupor.

Marinette was shocked. Adrien was offering help from his photographer. She twisted her earrings out of habit, which Adrien couldn't help but think that the little tick was endearing. "I-I will have to check with my parents, but that would be, well, th-that would be amazing! Thank you so much!" Marinette gushed, only stuttering a little.

"You're welcome! It's no big deal, anything to help a friend right?" he smiled brilliantly at Marinette. She could've sworn her heart stopped. She bit her lip and then smiled back, just as brilliantly, and then her heart pounded. Blood was rushing to her face and she could feel it's heat on her cheeks, yet again.

Adrien and Nino turned back around, and Alya fanned her face excitedly. In her excitement she did a little victory dance, silently screaming.

In front of the girls, Nino whispered to Adrien. "That was sick bro! That was awesome of you. Did you see Marinette's face?" Adrien smiled and patted Nino on the shoulder in appreciation of his praise. He peeked over his shoulder and saw that Marinette was still smiling brightly, face flushed, and she was biting her lip. He looked at her lips, imagining his own on hers. He turned back around smiling, trying to ignore his previous thought, and Nino looked at him smirking with an eyebrow raised.

"What?" Adrien asked, feigning innocence. Had it been anyone else, he might have fooled them, but not Nino.

Nino ducked closer to whisper, "Do you maybe have some feelings for a certain dark-haired classmate?"

Adrien flushed slightly, his collar getting hot. "I just admire her is all. It's so neat that she can design her own stuff."

Nino looked at him skeptically. "Uh huh. Sure."

 **TIME SKIP**

Marinette and Adrien had been hanging out a lot, planning the photoshoot and everything that went with it. In that time, the shy girl had gotten used to talking with Adrien and stuttered much less. The pair were more comfortable around each other. Every new day with Adrien, Marinette liked him more and more. She had realized when she began to hang out with Adrien, that what she had felt before wasn't completely real. She knew that she had developed a crush on him since that day in the rain, but from there it wasn't real. It was to a point, which Marinette had seen, but she was obsessed with what he did, versus who he was…

It was the day of the photoshoot and Adrien had entered the bakery an hour or so early, to prepare everyone for Vincent's… wild ways. As he stepped forward, Sabine and Tom greeted him. Adrien pretended not to notice Tom's judgemental stare. The same one he always gave Adrien when he came to help. Adrien was dressed in a baby blue button down with its sleeves rolled up to the elbows. The top few buttons were undone, showing off his sculpted chest. His black slacks looked sharp with the top, certainly dressed to impress.

He briefly wondered if he was overdressed, but caught sight of Tom and Sabine's approving look. He had wanted to make more good impressions on them and look professional. He just may have dressed nicely to impress Marinette as well, but that was beside the point.

"Mari's in the kitchen, just getting ready to make some more sweets. She's so nervous! She hasn't always liked the camera and doesn't know how she'll look in that dress..." Sabine trailed off.

"I'm sure that she will look great!" Adrien exclaimed, "She always does," he added in a quieter side note.

Sabine smiled knowingly and pointed to the kitchen for Adrien.

Adrien thanked her and walked over to where she had pointed. He stepped in and saw Marinette bent over, yellow dress coming up scandalously short on her creamy thighs. He dragged his eyes up from the end of the yellow dress, and ended up staring at Marinette's ass. _Damn. What am I doing? This is so not okay for me to be doing._

He blushed, tearing his green eyes away from where he was blatantly checking out his, admittedly very, very attractive, friend. He put his hand up to his mouth and coughed awkwardly, making his presence known. In surprise, Marinette smashed her head on the counter. She rubbed the back of her head with a wince. "Hi Adrien," she spoke.

"Hi Mari." He walked over to Marinette, standing close. " Is your head okay?" he asked guiltily.

The teenager brushed it off. "It's actually fine."

Adrien looked at her skeptically. He gently grabbed her face and tilted it down, ignoring the injured girl's protesting. "I said it's _fine_ , Adrien. Stop worrying," she said, exasperated. He spotted a red bump swelling on her head. He carefully rubbed his thumb over it and Marinette squeaked. "Don't _touch_ it!"

"'Fine' huh?" Adrien asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'll go grab you some ice, undo your pigtails so I can ice your head without your hair in the way."

Marinette rolled her eyes at his antics, but complied anyways. She combed through her dark locks with her fingers. She really was fine, this happened all the time to her. Her klutzy ways often shined through, giving her bruises.

Adrien stepped back in and saw Marinette twisting a dark lock around her finger. He stopped walking and gawked. "You look gorgeous!" he exclaimed before he could stop himself. _She looks so beautiful with her hair down._ It was wavy from taking it out of her pigtails. Marinette froze and turned around blushing and stuttering. Adrien shook off his thoughts of how cute _that_ was, and tried to focus on the task at hand.

He walked over with a bag of ice, and had Marinette sit down. Before he placed the ice on Marinette's head, he leaned down and kissed her head. He whispered in her ear, lips brushing it as he spoke, "A kiss to make it better." Then he placed the cool ice on her head.

Shivers raced up Marinette's body, but it wasn't from the ice. Her heart pounded, and her face felt hot in a sharp contrast with the ice. Adrien smirked to himself. _He_ did that to her. Marinette caught his smirk and raised an eyebrow, deciding she would definitely have to get him back later.

Adrien spoke up out of the silence. "New dress?" he asked, noticing it for the second time. It was a sunshine yellow color, bright and inviting. He figured that she picked the color for that specific reason. It was off the shoulder, showing off Marinette's shoulders and chest. His eyes bulged a little when he saw Marinette's arms. _Mari's ripped!_ He shifted his gaze downward towards the bottom. The dress was a princess cut. Internally he smirked. _A princess cut for his princess!_

"Yeah. It's the one I was designing in class," Marinette answered him, drawing him out of his thoughts.

Adrien whistled low, "Wow! It turned out great!"

Marinette sat flustered at the compliment. "W-well, I wasn't too sure on the design because at first I thought a pleated bottom that-"

Adrien cut her off, smiling. "You are _really_ bad at taking compliments."

Marinette looked at him, smiling slightly back, " Thank you." The pair both laughed.

Marinette stood up from her seat and went to dispose of what was left if the ice. When she came back, Adrien was just standing there. He looked up shyly, reminding Marinette of a puppy. "Is your head really okay?"

The young girl put a hand on his shoulder, reassuring him. "It's really fine Adrien, I run into stuff a lot," Adrien visibly relaxed and let out a huffy laugh, in which Marinette joined.

Marinette went back over to the bowl she had been getting out before she hit her head. She lifted it onto the counter and went over to wash her hands. "Would you like to help?" she asked, almost shyly.

Adrien's eyebrows lifted with interest. "Can I?"

The dark-haired beauty laughed at the silly question. "Of course you can, but wash your hands first."

Adrien eagerly went over. As he was watching his hands, he called over his shoulder. "I've never really baked before, or cooked much in general, are you sure you still want me? He asked, hinting at something else as well. He waited for Marinette to change her mind and decide that she no longer wanted him around.

Marinette understood his underlying meaning and answered both questions at once. "Of course I still want you. It doesn't matter to me what you can or can't do. I can teach you." After a moment of thought, she teased, "If I didn't know better, I would think you were trying to get out of work."

He shook his head profusely. "I-I want to help. Plus, it will be fun learning from you."

"Then let's get started!" For Adrien, Marinette grabbed a plain white apron with the bakery name on a small pocket, and for herself, she grabbed a white one that said 'kiss the cook' on it.

She tossed it and Adrien easily caught it, looping it around his neck. He put his hands behind his back, fiddling with the tie. Marinette watched his frustration grow, reminding her of a certain stubborn cat. His eyebrows were furrowed and his lips were pushed out in a pout.

After having her fun of watching him struggle, Marinette decided it was payback time. She strutted over, her lips right next to his ear. "Here, let me." The words blew out on Adrien's neck and he shivered. _Success!_ Once it was tied, Marinette went in front of Adrien, "Me too?" she asked.

Adrien complied, leaning into Marinette, maybe checking her out from behind once. Or twice. As he knotted the apron, he planted a kiss on Marinette's unsuspecting cheek. She whirled around, cheeks already flushing red. She looked accusingly at Adrien for making her blush, again. "What?" He asked. "Your apron says 'kiss the cook'." He smiled, feigning innocence on knowing about their little game.

 _Damn. He's got me again. Better up my game._

Aprons on, the two got ready to make some sweets. Adrien looked to Marinette earnestly. "What are we making chef?"

Giggling at the name, Marinette replied, "We are just going to start with simple chocolate chip cookies, my young padawan."

Adrien's mouth dropped say the Star Wars reference. "Did you just…?" he trailed off. _God she's perfect!_

"Yup," Marinette cut him off, popping the 'p'. "How many cookies do you want to make?"

The young man's eyes lit up. "One thousand!"

Marinette pretended to think about it for a moment. "Hmm. I think that's a little too many."

Once the pair had decided on four dozen, Marinette went to grab a bigger bowl. She peered in the big flour container before deciding that they would need more. She told Adrien that she would be right back, and the next thing Adrien knew, she was casually walking with a _huge_ bag of flour over her shoulder.

He gaped at her strength. He had truly underestimated her. Sure he knew that she was strong, and he had already noticed her arm muscles, but this was different. He marveled at her strength, and Marinette smiled at him. "You're so strong! What?" he said surprised.

"I guess you learn new things every day," Marinette winked at Adrien who was stuck in a stupor.

"Can you bring over the flour container?" Marinette asked.

Adrien grabbed the huge container and brought it over. She hoisted the bag higher and slowly started to bend over, pouring the flour. Marinette smirked to herself, her lacy bra was showing from get bending over, and Adrien was quite obviously staring. _Success!_

Adrien watched as beads of sweat formed from her hard work, and how they slipped down under the neck of Marinette's dress, right up to a lacy bra he was _positive_ he shouldn't be staring at.

"Like what you see?" Marinette asked, catching him in the act. Before Adrien could say anything however, the last of the flour plopped in with a _thunk_ , and the flour puffed up and covered Adrien.

Marinette wiped sweat from her brow. Adrien was standing right next to the container of flour, covered. He looked dryly at Marinette. "You couldn't have given me a warning?"

The young woman stood, shocked, before scrambling over to the flour covered boy. "Oh Adrien! I'm so sorry. I was distracted and wasn't paying attention!" She internally scolded herself. _Nice going Mari. Everything was going so well too._

"That's okay, I wasn't either," he blushed, thinking about what had distracted him. Marinette's hands were all over Adrien, dusting off the fine layer of flour on him. She patted down his chest, moving his collar to swipe at the flour that had collected on his neck and collarbone.

She moved down, kneeling on the ground and patting flour off of Adrien's black pants. Adrien's mind went to the gutter, again. Her head was right next to his belt, and he couldn't help but think that there were other things, better, more fun things she could be doing instead while she was down there.

Adrien shook the thoughts out of his head. _No, bad Adrien. Very, very bad Adrien._ He started to laugh at the situation. "Mari, don't worry about it!" he kept laughing, his gut wrenching with laughter.

Marinette stood up and started to giggle a bit before erupting in full blown laughter herself.

Tom and Sabine walked into the kitchen and Tom started to ask, "What's so funny?" before he saw Adrien's flour coated face. Tom smiled and started laughing and Sabine joined in too. "M-Mari," Tom stuttered with laughter. "W-what have I t-told you about-" more guffaws of laughter, "about pouring the flour slowly? Ahahaha! Especially at the end!" he laughed, a loud warm laugh that filled up the kitchen.

When everyone's laughter slowed down, Tom and Sabine headed back out to serve customers, shaking their heads and chuckling. They both wiped under their eyes, swiping away any stray tears.

Adrien looked at Marinette slyly. She was still standing right next to him. Marinette took one look at Adrien's sly look and immediately stopped laughing. "What are you up to now?"

She slowly tried to back away from Adrien, but went too slow. Adrien pounced on Marinette, covering her with a very fine layer of flour. He rubbed his flour coated face on her neck, the flour sticking to her and slightly coming off Adrien's cheek.

Marinette squirmed and Adrien grabbed her hips to keep her steady. He pulled her hips towards his as he rubbed flour all over her. Flour that didn't stick to them clouded around the pair. Another idea sparked in Adrien's head and he began to tickle a trapped Marinette.

"Adri- AHAHAHA! Adrien!" she was tense from his ticking. She tried to get out of his hold and went limp. Adrien held onto her as she went limp and they ended up on the floor.

Adrien relentlessly tickled Marinette, and she laughed, "St-stop! P-please!" Marinette laughed, ab muscles getting sore.

Adrien wouldn't give in though. He was sitting, straddling Marinette as she writhed on the floor. Swirls of flour formed on the floor from her movements. "A-Adrien!" Marinette couldn't stop laughing. Adrien smiled at the sight. _Her smile is just gorgeous._

Adrien stopped his tickling for a minute, putting one hand on his hip and the other on his chin, feigning contemplation on stopping. He put his hand next to Marinette's head, supporting his weight. "Hmm. I don't think so Mari. I think you deserve every minute of this for that stunt you pulled with the flour."

"No, please! I already apologized for covering you!" Marinette pleaded.

Adrien knelt down so he was whispering in Marinette's ear, "No, not that stunt."

Marinette gasped. He had caught her. She gasped again when he continued his tickling, both of them laughing and out of breath. A click was heard, but the couple didn't hear, both of them laughing too hard to notice.

"Adrien?" an echoing voice called.


	2. Photos and Sweets

Here's chapter two! Hope you like!

* * *

Adrien froze and slowly turned his head. "Heeyy Vincent," he drawled.

Vincent looked down at Adrien with his orange-brown eyes, as if questioning what they were doing. Adrien quickly offered an explanation. "We were just about to make cookies."

Vincent looked on with amusement. He eyed their position pointedly. "It doesn't look like _cookies_ were what you two were about to make." He winked at the two.

Adrien looked down at their position on the floor, his hips still straddling Marinette's and he blushed at the implication of Vincent's words. Adrien coughed awkwardly and stood up quickly, offering a hand to Marinette. One quick glance at Marinette proved that she was just as red as he was.

Marinette dusted off her dress and spoke up, clearing her throat. "I'll just go clean up and then we can start."

Adrien looked over Marinette. There was a light dusting of flour in her hair, looking like sparkles and snow, and thin patches of flour on her cheek and down her neck. There was flour on her dress and Adrien felt a pang of guilt flow through him. That was the dress that she had just made, and it was speckled with flour.

Before Marinette could leave to clean up, Adrien gently grabbed Marinette's arm and started to dust off the flour from her body. He avoided her chest area because, no, and moved down her sides, ignoring the apron.

"Hold on!" Vincent smiled wickedly. "I have an idea! A genius, brilliant idea!" His eyes lit up as his idea developed fully. "Stop patting her down this instant! She doesn't have a weapon." Vincent laughed at his own joke and slapped away Adrien's hands.

The pair looked at him confused. "We could use both of you and your flour coated selves for the shoot! It will look splendid!" He picked up a handful of flour and threw it at Adrien. The flour clouded up around Adrien's face and Marinette giggled.

He licked the flour off of his lip and then made a face. _Flour tastes awful._ Adrien huffed breaths of air out, blowing some flour off. Marinette kept giggling and Vincent smiled.

"Oh, think this is funny, do you?" Adrien raised an eyebrow at her in a challenge. He picked up a small handful of flour and threw it at the giggling girl. The flour hit her in the chest and at first Adrien was laughing, but then he watched the flour fall down under the neck of her dress. Adrien gulped, picturing the flour next to her lacy bra. He shook his head to get these thoughts out. This was his _friend._

Marinette raised her eyebrow at Adrien's actions and picked up a handful for herself. "Wait!" Vincent yelled. "You two have had your fun, but this is perfect! You two look like we dusted you with a light glitter and a little flour for that hard working effect…" He trailed off blabbering about more details in light and photography. Marinette thought about Vincent's words and chose to ignore him. She plopped the flour directly on Adrien's hair, spreading it around with her fingers.

Adrien held back a groan. Her fingers were _magical_.

Vincent stepped in between the two, laughing. "Alright, that is really enough." Adrien dusted off his hair, and shaking his head back and forth, puffs of flour slipping off.

The three talked about what pastries and breads they wanted to show off, and Adrien could proudly say that he knew what most of the pastries were that Marinette had listed. Vincent talked about how he wanted to plate things and lighting among other things. They headed off to the front of the shop to get the desired items, and to pose with them behind the counter.

So far, Vincent had been thinking one picture of Marinette with a customer, and then another of the two of them behind the glass case of sweets and bread. The other pictures would be solely of the food.

Adrien leaned into Marinette and whispered, "Are you sure you're okay that I'm modeling with you?"

Marinette's eyebrows raised in surprise. "I don't mind at all Mr. Supermodel." Adrien rolled his gorgeous green eyes at her nickname, but was convinced by her answer. "Do you mind?" Marinette asked, "I mean standing next to me, you might look a little chubby." She smirked as she joked with him.

Adrien smirked back at her while he lifted up his shirt and apron, giving Marinette a _very_ nice view. "I actually think I'm good. Don't you?"

Marinette felt hot. She knew she was staring at his abs and sculpted chest, and she knew that she should look away, she really should, but she just couldn't. To save her dignity, she stuttered out a reply. "W-well, I guess that you're fine."

Adrien smirked victoriously and let his shirt drop. He put his hand around Marinette's waist and set his head on her own.

When Sabine and Tom saw them, they raised their eyebrows, which moved even higher up when they saw the flour everywhere. They didn't say anything though, because they spotted Vincent's flour coated hand as well. He wiped his hand off on his red plaid pants and grabbed his camera.

Marinette followed Vincent's instructions, standing over by the cash register and holding up a pastry like she was serving a customer. "No! No! No!" Vincent cried. "You look far too stiff! Try to relax!"

Marinette's eyes widened, and she tried to do so, but she was so worried about how she looked. She was sure that she would look as stiff and awkward as she felt. She tried, she really did, but she just couldn't get what the photographer wanted.

"Here," Adrien spoke up. "Why don't I help?"

He stepped over by Marinette, just behind her. A little bell chimed and everyone turned to the customer. "Magnifique!" Vincent clapped his hands together. "Would you mind being in a picture for an ad?"

The customer looked surprised, but consented anyways. Vincent positioned the woman above the glass case of sweets, contemplating her decision.

Adrien whispered in Marinette's ear from behind, "Relax Mari." He put his hands on her hips. "Jut your hip out like you would normally. It looks more natural and relaxed."

Marinette's head tilted back to hear Adrien's whisper. She leaned back against his sculpted chest, and his hands were still resting on her hips. He smiled at Marinette, "Smile Mari, you're on camera!"

She smiled at his jokes and then Adrien's lips were on her cheek. His blonde locks tickled her face. Marinette's face heated up. Adrien was kissing her! Granted it was on the cheek, but still! She looked up at Adrien with adoration, customer gone from her mind. A click was heard and Marinette snapped out of it.

Smiling victoriously, was Vincent, holding a fantastic, candid shot on his hands! He was _so_ good. He peered at the image, the customer was off to one side, her head tilted down, looking at the sweets. The sweets looked absolutely delicious, being in the forefront of the picture, but in the back left corner was a clear shot of the two teenagers, staring at each other.

Vincent thought it was perfect, one of Adrien's hands could be seen on Marinette's waist. Flour was speckled, almost impossible to see, in their hair, and they each looked at each other with such admiration and love. Adrien's eyes were soft looking down at the dark-haired beauty, and Marinette looked up at Adrien with a brilliant smile dawned on her face. Put simply, the pair looked like the two lovebirds they were.

"This is good over here! Now we just need a picture of you two giving a pastry to this customer, then the food!" The customer followed Vincent's orders, and he snapped the picture. It wasn't nearly as good as the first. He would make sure that this one was smaller than the others. In his mind, he pictured the first one, and best one in the center of the advertisement, then others in a 'u' form around it, leaving a space at the top for the name of the bakery.

He went to go take pictures of the other sweets and breads, and spotted a cookie. "May I?" he asked Tom and Sabine who both nodded at him. He popped the morsel in his mouth and hummed. "This is absolutely parfait! It's delicious! I must capture the perfection of these foods!" he exclaimed excitedly.

The five of them got busy plating the foods, and soon enough, Vincent was snapping away on his camera. "Parfait!" he would shout. "Magnifique!" He yelled triumphantly after shooting the last item. "We are finished!"

Sabine hustled to get the money owed to him. She went to hand Vincent the items, but he shook his head no. He needed the money much less than they did, after all, he did photograph for Gabriel Agreste. "It has been my absolute pleasure working with you. Your daughter is a delight! I will work with some friends of mine to create the perfect collage masterpiece!" He gestured dramatically. "I don't need your payment, you must save that for getting the signs up!"

Sabine and Tom looked pleasantly surprised. "Are you quite certain?" she asked.

"Oh quite! You all are so kind, I wish you the best of luck with your business!" Vincent shook Tom's large hand as Sabine disappeared.

Sabine reappeared with a big box filled with goodies from their shop. From loafs of bread to cookies, it was stuffed full. She put a hand on Vincent's arm before he could leave. "Thank you, but you must at least take these treats off our hands. It is just to kind of you to help us out!" She smiled eagerly at the photographer.

He gratefully took the treats and smiled at the family and Adrien. "Thank you, and thank you Adrien for introducing me to this lovely family. Thank you so much for the goodies, and might I add, don't mind if I do!" And with that he snatched a cookie out of the box and stuffed it in his mouth. "Ta-ta everyone!" he said, voice muffled with his mouth full.

Once the door closed, Tom put a hand on Sabine's waist. "That was so generous of him." Adrien's hand was resting on Marinette's waist as well. Simultaneously, Sabine and Marinette both put their heads down on Tom and Adrien's shoulder.

Marinette sighed and spoke quietly. "Thank you Adrien. How can I ever repay you?" She blinked up at him in a false innocence. She _knew_ what she did to him, and yet she said stuff like that anyways.

Adrien leaned down and pressed a kiss right on Marinette's lips, effectively silencing her. "I think that you will have to repay me at some other date."

Marinette hummed in thought, and kissed Adrien back.


	3. Ads and Akumas

AN: I'm so glad that you all are liking my story! Thank you so much for reading and sticking with it! Don't forget to leave a review! I love hearing what you have to say!

 **TIME SKIP**

The collage of pictures was sent out in large poster formats, and all the family had to do was put them up in their designated areas. Adrien had dropped by to help out, with him and Marinette taking half of the signs to put up.

The pair walked, keys to the displays in hand. They stepped up to the first one, a side of bus stop seating, the outer frame just waiting for their ad. Adrien unlocked the thin glass frame and Marinette unrolled the poster that was almost the size of her. It's laminated edges dug into her fingers as she put it inside the waiting frame.

Once finished, the two continued to put them up in their designated spots until they were completely done. Marinette turned to Adrien. "Thank you, again. For helping out with all of this. It would've been so much harder without you."

"It's no problem, really. I'm used to all of this sort of thing." He patted the other side of a Paris directory where one of his modeling photos was displayed with some cologne.

Marinette peered at what he was patting and her eyes bugged. "Our bakery sign is next to one of your modeling ones?!"

Adrien laughed, "Yeah, I figured it would be the best way for people to see the ad. I mean you can walk by it _and_ drive by it. Plus," he added as an afterthought, "tourists who need help getting through the town will see your bakery on the other side and probably go take a look at it."

Instead of saying anything, Marinette just stood up on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on Adrien's unsuspecting mouth.

"Whatever you say Mr. Supermodel," Marinette said coyly, and walked ahead of a frozen Adrien. He would _never_ get used to that. He jogged a little to catch up to a speedy Marinette.

When they got back to the bakery, Tom and Sabine greeted the two, already finished with their half. They thanked Adrien profusely and sent him on his way with piles of sweets. When Adrien finally said goodbye, he was practically drooling at the sight of all the sweets.

Not even a minute after Adrien left, Alya called. Marinette walked upstairs to answer. "What's up Alya?" she asked as she closed her trapdoor.

"What's up you ask?!" she yelled through the phone into Marinette's poor ears. "I'll tell you what's up! What's up are signs all over for your bakery with you and Adrien making goo-goo eyes at each other!"

"Wait what?" Marinette asked in confusion.

"I'm coming over," Alya said and hanged up. Not ten minutes later, Alya walked into Marinette's bedroom. She plopped down next to Marinette.

"Your bakery ad Mari! You and Adrien are in the center with hearts in your eyes!" Alya took out her phone to show her a picture. "Girls are rampaging everywhere! I can't wait to see Chloe's face!" Alya's eyes sparkled as she imagined it.

Marinette groaned. That meant akumas, akumas everywhere. She eyed the picture and blushed. "It's not that bad. I've seen it. Everyone is totally overreacting." Alya zoomed in on the two of them. Marinette's face felt hot. It really _did_ look like there were hearts in their eyes.

Her dress looked great though, and the flour that was scattered about looked… better than she thought it would. You wouldn't really notice it if you weren't looking for it. It looked nice with the store name in it's yellow print. "Boulangerie Patisserie opens every day at 7."

There were screams heard from below Marinette's balcony, and the two rushed over to see what the commotion was. Just as Marinette had suspected, there was an akuma attack, right on her doorstep. _Well that was quick._

"Alya! You have to get out of here and get somewhere safe! Find Chat Noir and tell him what's happening!" Marinette ordered Alya, her protective instincts taking over.

"What about you?!" Alya yelled in a panic.

"I have to stay here so they don't rampage the city, now go find Chat! Go!" Marinette gave her a light push. She _really_ needed to transform. The second that Alya stepped outside, Marinette opened her purse with a pop, and Tikki flew out. "Quickly Tikki! Transform me!"

She leaped out the window, swinging through the air with her yo-yo. As she landed on the ground, the akuma turned around. Blonde hair whipped as she spun. "Chloe?!" Ladybug shouted in surprise.

Chloe's eyes narrowed. "It's not Chloe, it's Fanatic!" she roared. She chucked what looked like an old polaroid picture at the ground.

Ladybug slowly made her way over to the picture. Other civilians were doing the same, beating Ladybug to it. All she saw was a single flash emanate from the card and the civilians around it stood straight up.

One of them screamed. "Oh my gosh! Did you see Adrien and that girl?!" The other civilians around the card joined in, complaining loudly, with anger clearly written on their faces.

"Adrien! Why would you pick her?" a woman in her forties asked, complaining loudly to other citizens. Her husband next to her nodded his head earnestly in agreement.

"Oookay," Ladybug said slowly. Then it dawned on her. "They must be Adrien groupies."

She put her hand to her forehead. _This is the weirdest thing I've ever seen._ When Ladybug had been distracted, Fanatic had thrown a card next to Ladybug. When she looked around for Fanatic, Ladybug saw that she was poised, and waiting to attack. She looked around, trying to see why Fanatic wasn't attacking. She spotted a photo of Adrien next to her and the flashing sped up, beeping loudly.

Ladybug went to leap out of the way, but the card stopped flashing and held a bright white light. Before she could go any further, Ladybug was blown into the air by an explosion. Her legs flew out from beneath her as she tried to think clearly. Her body flipped in the air before she flung her yo-yo in a random direction, praying that it would catch on something. As luck would have it, the yo-yo latched onto a street light, catching her from a hard fall into the cement. _Okay,_ she thought to herself, _the ones that flash once hypnotise and the ones that flash a lot blow up._ She thought to herself, bewildered. _Well that's quite a change._ She snorted to herself.

As Ladybug hopped back onto the ground, she started to grow nervous about where Chat was. She shook those thoughts out though, because she had a job to do. As she was about to go attack Fanatic, she saw a black blur leap into her balcony, and relief flooded through her.

"Chat!" she called up to the balcony. No answer. She swung herself up to her balcony. Ladybug looked into her room, and saw Chat scrambling around. He frantically ran around the room, checking under her bed and running around in a panic.

"Mari! Marinette! Where are you?! Princess!" he shouted panicked. He thundered down the stairs, Ladybug following closely behind. "Marinette! Mari!" he kept shouting.

He raced down into the bakery part of the house, tripping down stairs and skipping most of them, and saw Tom and Sabine hiding in the kitchen, the doors locked on the bakery. "Where is Mari?!" he asked the couple, eyes wide with fear and panic.

"She's not here! We don't know where she is!" Sabine cried out, tears slipping down her face.

Ladybug stepped in, "She's safe, I promise." His heart was pounding, and so was Ladybug's. How did Chat know Marinette? They had only met a few times briefly, very briefly.

Sabine and Tom held each other tighter, but Chat wasn't listening. The second Sabine had said that Marinette wasn't there, his eyes shifted to the door. He sprinted towards the bakery door and flung it open.

He pulled out his baton and plowed his way through the crowd. He stomped through the people and ended up running at Fanatic. He leaped at her, swinging wildly. "Where is she?!" he yelled, looking rabid. "WHERE IS MARINETTE?!" he kept swiping and jabbing at her with his baton. Fanatic was barely dodging his blows, sweat forming at her brows. She kept trying to grab photographs from her back pocket to throw at him, but between swings she didn't have enough time.

"CHAT!" Ladybug yelled loudly, trailing after him. She had never seen Chat in such a rage, her heart ached for him, and never had she wanted more to tell Chat who she was. "Chat stop!" She lunged at Chat, grabbing the end of his baton, effectively stopping him. "Chat! She's fine! She's safe, I promise." His muscles tensed in a slight attempt to get her to let go, but she held on.

His breathing was erratic from his rage and fear. He turned on Ladybug, "Where is she? Please!" his eyes were soft and pleading with Ladybug. It looked like he was going to burst into tears, like the possibility of losing her was too painful.

"Chat," she put her hand on his shoulder, trying to soothe him. "She is fine. You need to focus." As she spoke a card landed next to them, others following suit in a circle around them. Fanatic was not going to wait for Chat to stop panicking. Ladybug slipped a hand around Chat's waist, without him realizing, and swung them away from the bombs.

Chat landed, but still stood disoriented. Ladybug snapped her fingers in front of Chat, catching his attention. "You are so distracted! Listen closely to my words, she is fine," she spoke slowly and precisely.

His tense muscles slowly relaxed and his shoulders drooped. "Okay, alright. I'm feline much better now," he joked half-heartedly.

"Let's go get Fanatic now, before she throws more photo bombs at us," Ladybug replied.

"Did you just-" Chat shook his head in wonder. "That was a pun!"

"It was kind of a pun, now let's go!" Ladybug started to head back to Fanatic.

As they started to make their way over, mobs of mind-controlled citizens surrounded them. The citizens stepped in the way, hindering the heroes from getting to Fanatic. They grabbed at the two heroes, trying to pull them down to the ground and unable to escape. "Quick! My Lady, grab onto me, I'm going to launch us into the air," Chat spoke quickly, trying to set a plan of action before they were too late.

As they flew into the air, Chat and Ladybug tried to figure out where the akuma was. "Do you see anything that really sticks out on Chloe?" Ladybug asked.

Chat looked down, trying to see anything that stuck out, not noticing that Ladybug had known Chloe. "Well, she throws around those photos, so it must be a photo or something like that. Can you see in her back pocket?"

Ladybug squinted at the ground. "Yeah, there is something sticking out of her pocket, but it's too big to be a photo. That has to be it, let's go."

Chat had his baton bring them back down to the ground, unfortunately where the mob was waiting for them. "Use lucky charm!" Chat called over the shouts.

"I have an idea!" Ladybug shouted. "These guys are Adrien's fans right?" Chat nodded and the crowd screamed louder when they heard Adrien's name. "So why don't we give them Adrien?"

Chat stood there confused. _There's no way she knows right? She can't know that it's me._ "I don't mean the real Adrien, silly." Ladybug had caught onto his confusion. "Hey!" she shouted over the crowd. "Is that Adrien Agreste over there?!" The crowd turned all turned towards her to see where she was pointed. "That's definitely him!" she pointed in a random direction down the street.

The hypnotized people all were shouting, "Adrien! I love you!" over and over, running down the street looking for him. As they fought their way through the hoards of people, so did Fanatic.

She shoved her way through the crowd, "MOVE! MOVE!" she yelled at everyone, hands pushing people to the ground. "Get out of my way gross people! Where is Adrien my love?" she tried to look over the crowd and jumped up and down to see him.

Chat resisted rolling his eyes. As she bolted past them, Chat could hear Hawkmoth in her ear shouting, "Ignore the boy, get their miraculouses!" She didn't even notice the two, too busy looking for Adrien in front of the crowd.

Chat grabbed what was hanging from Fanatic's pocket. Out of curiosity, he unfolded the paper. He couldn't believe it. It was a poster of him, Adrien. It was the poster that Chloe had made him autograph in school one day. Chat rolled his green eyes, not bothering with holding back this time. He gladly ripped the paper in half, and an akuma came out.

After the butterfly flew out, the pair went through the motions. Every second that went by, Chat looked more and more antsy. "Okay, now that we're done, where is Marinette. I'll just go get her and-"

Ladybug cut him off. "I'll get her Chat. You're looking quite a bit frazzled and this way it's less complicated." She held her breath, hoping that he went with it.

He seemed to debate with himself, taking a while to answer. "Fine, but I will be up there in five minutes, and she had better be there."

Ladybug accepted that with a nod, and swung off to 'go get Marinette'. She swung off in a roundabout way to her house on a nonexistent mission. She snuck back onto her balcony, and hurried into her room. She detransformed and not a second later, Chat appeared.

He hurried to her side, holding both of her hands, inspecting her. "Princess? Are you okay? Did you get injured in any way?" he rambled on.

Marinette cut him off with a half smile. "I'm fine, I just wonder how Adrien's doing after this whole mess."

"He's fine," Chat answered, a little too quickly. Marinette looked at him questioningly. "I mean I saw him and asked him before Ladybug went and got you."

Marinette narrowed her eyes at Chat. That was a blatant lie. He and Ladybug hadn't run into Adrien, and she would know. She brushed it off. "I am fine, but I would like to check on my parents." She started towards her trap door. "Thank you though, for checking on me."

Chat nodded and headed out the balcony to leave. Before he went though, he whispered something so quiet, Marinette almost couldn't hear. She almost thought that it wasn't for her to hear. "Anything for you Marinette." Marinette shivered and her heart pounded. He hadn't even used his usual nicknames. Her thoughts wandered for a minute before she refocused on the task at hand.

Marinette climbed down the flight of stairs to find her parents. As it turned out, Tom and Sabine were fine, and Alya had magically appeared with them. Marinette had a feeling that she had been recording the attack before and that's why she wasn't with her parents.

After everyone had made sure that no one had gotten hurt, Alya and Marinette headed upstairs. Once they were upstairs, they each plopped down on a chair, exhausted. "Well that was weird," Alya said plainly.

Marinette gave her a look and the two burst into laughter. "No kidding! The second we are talking about the poster, some wacko is akumatized and rampaging about Adrien!"

"Oh my gosh! Didn't you see? That 'wacko' was Chloe!" Alya exclaimed.

"What no way!" Marinette said in false surprise.

Alya nodded her head in excitement. "She's been akumatized twice now! I guess her negative self just can't help it!" The two laughed at Alya's joke.

Alya got serious for a minute, "I'm sorry Mari, but I couldn't find Chat! I looked everywhere for him, but I couldn't find him!"

Marinette patted her friend on the arm. "It's okay Alya, he made it in time. There was no harm done." Alya nodded at her, accepting it and ridding herself of any guilt.

"So," Marinette trailed off. "Video games?" she offered.

"Hell yeah!" was Alya's reply as she spun excitedly in her swivel chair.

The two had picked a relatively simple game, Mario Kart, and the two were racing away. They were so caught up in the race, neither of them heard a certain guest come in.

Marinette was biting her lip in concentration, leaning back and forth in her chair, copying her driving. Alya was on her knees on the chair, trying to concentrate on winning. As Marinette won the race, with Alya not too far behind, she jumped up with a shout, arms thrust into the air in victory. Alya sulked in her chair, slumping down in defeat.

Adrien smiled as Marinette did a goofy little victory dance. _Marinette is such a dork. A very_ cute _dork._ Adrien lifted his fist to cough into his hand. Once he had made his presence known, the two girls whirled around. Marinette's arms dropped from hanging into the air, her face felt warm. "H-how long have you been standing there?" Alya tried to smother her oncoming laughter with her hands.

Adrien let out a laugh of his own. "Long enough." Marinette rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. Alya kept snickering.

"I'm going to go grab a cookie and leave you two lovebirds to your devices," Alya said as she swiftly got up and headed down the trapdoor. The two blushed and looked anywhere but at each other. They weren't quite used to their sort-of-relationship yet. Marinette didn't even know what they were. They were definitely friends, they spent a lot of time together, and had kissed a few times.

"Uh," he said smartly, "I just wanted to see if you were okay after all of that." Adrien had stepped in close to Marinette, they were practically breathing in the same air. It took everything in Adrien not to lean in and kiss Marinette's pink lips, that were honestly looking more tempting by the second.

Marinette's voice shook him out of his thoughts. "Oh! I'm fine. Chat came by earlier and checked on me too," Marinette said, not even fazed talking about a superhero.

Adrien hummed. "Sounds like I have some competition…" he trailed off, putting a hand on his chin and raising his eyebrows. Marinette's sparkling blue eyes widened as she shook her head rapidly. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding. I ran into him and Ladybug earlier. Told me they thought it stunk that we sort of made an akuma," Adrien looked away as he lied.

Marinette narrowed her eyes at Adrien. Both him and Chat had told her the same lie, and again, she brushed it off.

Adrien cleared his throat and changed the subject. "So Mario Kart… Wanna race?"

Marinette's eyes lit up excitedly. "Yes!" She practically jumped into her waiting chair, waiting eagerly for Adrien to sit down.

When the race started, Adrien was in the lead, but after some strategic driving, Marinette easily took the lead. "Let's make a bet," Marinette proposed as she smirked. They weren't quite done with the first lap, but Marinette had confidence in her Mario Kart abilities.

Adrien raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Did not take you for the betting type."

Marinette quipped back, "I bet you didn't take me for a gamer type either did you?"

Adrien laughed, "There you go with the bets again! But guilty, I wouldn't have guessed that." Adrien thought for a moment. "I know! Winner gets a kiss!" he exclaimed excitedly. He then shouted indignantly as a green shell hit him. "How do you even aim those?!"

Marinette laughed evilly. "I'll never tell!" When she was laughing, a banana had appeared on screen. She swerved violently to avoid it, narrowly missing. Her heart pumped furiously, and not because of the Mario Kart adrenaline. "Alright, bet taken, but there's no way you're going to win! Not to brag, but I'm kind of great at this game!"

 _Oh please,_ Adrien thought, _with motivation like that, there's no way I will lose!_ "Don't worry Mari, I'm here to knock your ego down a level!" Adrien's Sneakster bike raced closely behind Marinette's pick of Blue Falcon.

As they neared the end of their third lap, Marinette was thrilled. She was going to win! The finish line was in sight and both of them leaned forward in anticipation, trying to get that extra speed. A blue shell appeared on screen, aiming for first place, Marinette. Marinette wailed and Adrien laughed as he slowed down to stay away from it.

"No! Not fair! Ugg." Marinette yelled in agony, even adding on a groan. The blue shell had hit her and Adrien slipped into first and Marinette into second. She had been so tantalizingly close, and missed it by the tiniest bit.

"Hah! I win!" Adrien jumped up in victory as Marinette slumped in her chair. "Kiss my ass!" He danced a victory dance, much like Marinette's, and wagged his butt in Marinette's face.

In retribution, Marinette smacked Adrien's ass that was right in front of her face. She smirked smugly as he let out a small yelp. She continued smirking and said, "Agony! Far more painful than yours!" She expected an accusing look from him, but when Adrien turned around, a sly grin was plastered on his face.

He leaned over Marinette, bracing his arm on the back of her chair. He whispered into Marinette's ear, his lips brushing it gently as he spoke. "If I had known you were into the spanking sort of thing Mari, we could've tried it long ago," he smirked as he saw Mari's cheeks blush, followed by her ears, neck and lower down then Adrien allowed himself to look.

Marinette's mouth was open in a silent gasp and Adrien leaned in slowly, looking into Marinette's eyes for her permission. She tilted her head and leaned forward slightly. Adrien took that as a yes and he leaned in, pushing his lips hesitantly onto hers. He hadn't ever kissed anyone besides Mari, not on the lips. He had kissed his fair share of cheeks before, but never on the lips. Even the few kisses that he and Marinette had shared had been short and sweet, but not this one. It was deep and curious, and honestly, a little sloppy as they both seemed to be trying to figure it out. Adrien loved every second of it. If he had the choice, he would do that for every second of the rest of his life. He pulled away only for breath.

"Woah," Alya spoke up out of the silence. Marinette and Adrien's heads whirled around. Alya stood in the doorway awkwardly. "I'll just go grab some milk for these cookies," she lifted up the plate. "Which are now all for me, since you two are too busy eating each other's tongues! Sheesh! It's about time though!" She chomped down on a cookie while heading to the basement, revelling in the two's dumbstruck looks. As she headed back down, she called over her shoulder, "And it's about time someone beat down your Mario Kart ego Mari!"

The two sat frozen for a minute before Adrien spoke up. "So how about that winner's kiss? After all, Alya already thinks we've been 'eating each other's tongues', so how about it?" Adrien winked and Marinette spluttered.

She crossed her arms and looked away, knowing that if she looked into Adrien's green eyes, her resolve would dissolve. She turned up her nose. "We just kissed, save it for some other time."

Adrien kissed her on the nose and put a finger on her chin, tilting it back to face him. "I just thought maybe a couple more kisses…" he trailed off, some insecurity seeping through.

Marinette rested her hand on Adrien's cheek, leaning in. "Maybe," she kissed him. "Just a couple more," she kissed him after every word, his insecurities shattering away after each one. She pecked him on the lips once more before leaning back. Adrien whined at the loss of her lips on his.

"Alright Mr. Supermodel, now that you've checked on me, among other things," she added under her breath. "You really should get going. Alya will eat all the food in my house if she's not kept in check." Adrien chuckled at that. "Plus," she added, "who knows what my parents are thinking." Adrien gulped, thinking about Tom and his, well, his hugeness.

"You're right," Adrien said quickly. "Plus, it's been a long day for you. I'll let you get some rest." Adrien leaned in hesitantly before gaining confidence and kissing Marinette goodbye. The good kind of butterflies fluttered in Marinette's chest.

He headed down the stairs while Marinette sat in a daze. She thought about everything that happened and squealed while she twirled around.

Tikki popped out from where she was hiding. She sped across the room in a red blur. Her mouth ran a mile a minute, "Oh my gosh! You and Adrien! AHH! You totally just made out!" She flitted around Marinette's head spastically, like the time when Marinette had given her coffee, but that's a story for another time…

Marinette cupped her hands around Tikki. "Tikki! I know it's exciting, but calm down!" Tikki's eye twitched a little before she calmed down a bit. Marinette held back a laugh at the sight. Her heart was still beating sporadically from Adrien.

Thumping that wasn't from her heart was heard as Alya thundered up the stairs. "Hide Tikki!" Marinette whispered and Tikki flew off and hid by Marinette's cat pillow just as Alya appeared in Marinette's doorway.

"Finally! I thought he would _never_ leave!" Alya exaggerated exasperatedly. "Okay! Details!" she squealed excitedly. "Every. Single. Detail." Alya punctuated her words, eager to hear everything.


	4. Patrol

AN: Here's the next and last chappy!

* * *

Marinette explained that Adrien had come to check on her after the attack and then they played Mario Kart. "And then we made a bet that whoever won would get a kiss." Alya lifted her hand, stopping Marinette.

"Alright, I know what happened from there. You lost, finally I might add, and yada yada yada," Alya flailed her arms around. "But what _I_ wanna know is, how was it? Is he a good kisser? Are you guys a thing now? Will you go on double dates with Nino and I?" Alya fired off questions like bullets from a gun.

Marinette went to answer them. "Amazing! He's a fantastic kisser! It didn't seem like he'd ever kissed someone before, well, like we did, we both sort of had to figure it out. Our other kisses just weren't that… passionate." Her sky blue eyes glazed over as she reminisced about it, not catching her mistake.

"Wait! WHAT?! You and Adrien kissed before that? Forget my other questions! TELL ME EVERYTHING." She shook Marinette's shoulders, forcing her from her daze. "Stop fantasizing and TELL ME!"

Marinette laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. "W-well you see, after we worked on the ad and had everything finished, we had grown really close. And h-he kissed me, and I kissed him back." Alya's eyes were wide and her mouth was agape. "It was a chaste kiss, not like the one in my room. That one was just different, burning.

"It's like that saying you always hear in romantic movies and books. It was like I was on fire and he was my only water, and vice versa." Alya nodded in understanding and Marinette sighed dreamily.

"I get what you're saying. Nino and I, we just click. I mean I don't know how to tell him how much he means to me." Alya sighed, slumping into her chair, and Marinette shook her head with a smile on her face.

She put her hand on Alya's slumped shoulder. "Just like that." Alya peered up at her, a little self-doubt seeping into her. Alya didn't often get nervous about herself, in fact, most of the time she was down-right radiating in her self confidence. But Marinette knew that there were some things that got to her friend, and she knew how to recognize them.

Alya nodded slowly at first, then speeding up as she warmed up to the idea. "Alright, I can do that. Now," she said, changing topics abruptly, trying to make it so her lapse in confidence was looked over, "how about that double date?"

Marinette giggled, glad that her friend was back to her old self, she ignored the topic switch to help her friend feel better. She shook her head at her silliness. "I-" Marinette cut herself off, suddenly unsure. "I don't know. Don't get me wrong I would love to! But I don't know what we are. Adrien and I need to figure out, well, _us._ " Marinette had previously donned a nervous expression, but she had switched to beaming excitedly at Alya. Alya didn't quite know what Marinette was smiling so brightly about, but she was happy for her friend.

"Don't you get it Alya! There's an 'us' now! Adrien and I are an 'us'!" Marinette squealed with joy, and Alya joined in. The two jumped up from their seats and cheered.

Sabine peeked her head through the trapdoor. "What's going on up here?" She raised her eyebrows at the girls frozen in the middle of their dance. "It sounds like a herd of elephants came through here." She laughed at the girls, who only giggled along with her.

"We were just goofing around up here," Marinette answered, and Sabine squinted her eyes in suspicion, but nodded anyways, accepting that.

"Alright, but try to be more quiet with your… dancing." Sabine ducked her head back under the trapdoor, and the girls laughed some more.

Alya continued with where they left off, being a little quieter. "Girl! I am so happy for you! You've only fantasized about this day since he ran into you out in the rain and lent you his umbrella!" Alya finished, hands clutched to her chest. "Really, it's quite romantic."

Marinette stared off into space, thinking about that fateful day they met. Alya saw her friend reminiscing, and her eyes softened. She was so lucky to have Marinette. "You know girl, you've had a long day. I think I'll leave you to it. Get some sleep Marinette." Marinette smiled at Alya, nodding her head in agreement. Alya gave Marinette a hug, said goodnight to Tom and Sabine, and then headed home.

After Marinette was alone, Tikki flew back over. Marinette flopped onto the bed, exasperated. "Why does everyone think that I need rest? After today I don't know if I will be able to sleep a wink!" Marinette exclaimed.

"Well," Tikki started slowly, "We could go on patrol. I'm sure that Chat will be out there after today's attack."

Marinette didn't need a second to think before she eagerly agreed. She thought to herself, _a little fresh air would be good for me._

Usually when she transformed, she felt a wave of confidence in herself. That day however, she was confident in herself, there was no need for a confidence boost, everything was going great for her. A little voice in Marinette's head said that it wouldn't last, but she chose to ignore it.

As she swung through the streets of Paris, she spotted Chat sitting on a rooftop, swaying his legs back and forth. Getting closer, she could hear slight humming, something that sounded suspiciously like "Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat" from _Aristocats._

She held back a snicker at the sight. Ladybug landed next to Chat with a 'thump'. She decided to comment on Chat's good mood. "What's got you so happy Chat?" Ladybug wouldn't admit it, but it warmed her heart to see her kitty so upbeat. Before her family advertisement, when everything seemed hopeless with Adrien, as Ladybug, she was less 'mission first' with Chat. They had hung out quite a bit, taking extra time on patrols and making them more frequent. In their time together, she had teased him more than usual and admittedly harbored a little, tiny crush on Chat. But that didn't matter anymore, she was with Adrien.

Chat's emerald eyes glittered as he turned to Ladybug. He seemed a little hesitant to speak, but ignored his qualms about it and went on. "I've been hanging out with this girl lately…" Ladybug's heart sank a little, but she ignored it. _I love Adrien, not Chat._ He went on, oblivious to her inner turmoil. "And today, I went to see her. We've gotten really close with our time together. She's so sweet! She just gets me! She made a Star Wars joke with me too! It's like we are into the same things!" Ladybug ignored how her heart sank further. This girl sounded perfect. "She's so gorgeous too, but it's like she doesn't know it, which just makes her even more beautiful. And she loves joking around with me! She really just knows all of me! I trust her, and I really, really like her!"

Her throat was tight, and she didn't know if she could trust herself to speak. Ladybug nodded slowly. He had found someone, and apparently couldn't keep his mouth shut about her. It sounded like he was finally over Ladybug. Ladybug tried to tell herself that that was what she had wanted all along anyways. But she couldn't help but hear the little voice in her head. _He's one of your best friends, and you got close to him. It's no wonder you like him, even in the tiniest way. You have Adrien though._ Marinette felt a little better, muscles relaxing a bit. She loved Adrien, more than anything really, and she wouldn't give him up for the world.

She felt a temptation flood through her about telling Chat about Adrien, her boyfriend. Then she thought better of it, and decided against that. Ladybug tuned back in to hear Chat still going on, talking about his girl. "And get this!" he finally paused, taking a breath for dramatic effect. "My Princess kissed me!"

Ladybug's mind raced as he kept talking. _His Princess._ "Well, technically I kissed her, but that doesn't really-"

She cut him off with her hand. "P-Princess?" she stuttered. Chat tilted his head in confusion. He didn't think that he had ever heard his Lady stutter.

Her mind continued to race. _There has to be an explanation. I'm sure he calls everyone he's interested in his Princess. There's no way it's just-_

"Yeah," he said slowly, cutting off Ladybug's inner monologue. He continued cautiously. "My Princess, Marinette." He gauged her reaction, trying to see what was up.

Ladybug's heart was pounding, and she was frozen. _I need to get out of here! I should leave! There's just no way! All this time he- it just can't be!_ Her inner thoughts screamed at her, but she needed to know for sure. "Marinette...Dupain-Cheng?" she asked carefully, being precise.

"Yeah. You returned her today to her balcony, at the Boulangerie Patisserie. Mari and I have been working on an ad for a while to help out business. She really is a spitfire." He chuckled a little, thinking about Marinette. Chat's eyebrows furrowed in confusion when he saw his Lady's reaction.

Ladybug's mind told her to flee. She had switched into her fight or flight instincts, and she wanted to be a thousand other places than where she was. Her heart was beating quickly, so quickly. _Chat is A-Adrien?_

A thought flickered through her mind. She was panicking, and Chat was sitting there out of the loop. She internally groaned, but then thought of their situation. _Isn't it perfect? The two people that you've known for so long, the two people you like, are the exact same person._

All at once, Ladybug was able to piece it together. Adrien made puns all the time, and on top of that, cat puns. Once Adrien was out of his shell, he joked with her, teased her, in a way that was so similar to Chat. In fact, he had just lied to her earlier about his whereabouts because he was busy being Chat. She felt like the dumbest person alive, but at the same time, the luckiest. She had calmed down, standing almost still next to a nervous looking Chat. This wasn't a bad thing at all, in fact it was the exact opposite of a bad thing.

Chat stood up from where he was sitting, and put his arm onto Ladybug's shoulder. She looked into his emerald eyes, picturing Adrien in Chat's place. His appearance flickered in her mind. It was no longer Chat looking at her concerned, but... "Adrien?" she spoke weakly.

Time froze around them as Ladybug could see all the different emotions cross his face. Confusion. Understanding. Then confusion again. Hurt mixed with relief and other emotions flitted across too.

Chat tensed, letting his arm drop from Ladybug's shoulder. "My-my Lady?"

Ladybug ignored his statement, and asked again. "It is you, isn't it? Adrien?" Her blue orbs were soft as she looked at Chat's vulnerable form.

His reply was so soft, she almost didn't hear him. "Yes." He spoke up a little louder. "How did you-" he stopped himself, not caring enough to ask. He looked dejected and his head dropped, hanging low as if he was ashamed of who he was. He stared at the empty Paris streets below.

Ladybug felt her eyes fill with tears, but they didn't spill. She smiled at Chat, who wasn't paying her any attention.

"This is how I knew." She lifted his chin, and pressed her lips to his.

Chat's eyes widened at the thought of his Lady kissing him, but he ripped himself away. "Were you not listening?" His eyes burned into Ladybug's. "I'm with Marinette! And she's made me the happiest I've been in a long time!" He dropped his eyes to the ground again, not being able to stand Ladybug's warm gaze. She felt like rolling her eyes at their stupidity.

It was dark outside, but Ladybug looked around for any people outside. They were on one of the higher buildings in Paris, so the lights didn't quite reach them. They could see each other, and that was what mattered.

Ladybug spoke, crisp and clear. "Tikki, release transformation." Chat looked up at her voice, eyes wide with surprise. He watched as red shades and white light flowed up her body, leaving a very familiar sight.

"M-Mari?" Chat stuttered, his eyes blinking face. Her face was flushed, nervous about his reaction. _How did I get this lucky? I don't believe it! But then again…_ He thought. Chat mentally kicked himself in the ass. Of course it was Marinette, she was just like Ladybug. When she let her courageous side shine through, her hair, her body type, and for crying out loud, her gorgeous electric blue eyes.

Marinette rubbed the back of her neck, a habit she had picked up over the years. She turned away from Chat. "I-I know it's probably not what you expected, or wanted-"

Chat jumped forward from where he was standing dumbstruck. He grabbed Marinette's waist, turning her around swiftly, and cutting her off. He was holding her in a slight dip, his warm leather covered fingers touching just under her shirt on her back. She shivered at the sensation. "Please don't say that Mari! You're the best partner I could ask for! In and out of these suits!" He released his transformation to make a point. Adrien's familiar green gaze looking into Marinette's watery blue eyes. "We've worked so well together on the ad for your family and throughout the years as Ladybug and Chat! You're perfect Mari, and I wouldn't want anyone else under that suit!"

Marinette wrapped her arms around Chat, holding him tightly. She hid her face in his chest, letting a couple tears of relief slip down her flushed cheeks. "Thank you Adrien, thank you."

Adrien felt the warm tears splash onto his chest, and he pulled away, holding Mari at arms length. "Don't cry Mari! This is great! I mean, you heard me blether on about you just five minutes ago!"

She blubbered a bit, mixed with a little laughter. She wiped the tears from her face. "I'm not sad, you doofus! I'm just really happy. I never wanted to tell you who I was, because I was afraid that you would be disappointed with who I was. I didn't want that to interfere with what we had."

Adrien pulled her back into his chest. "I would never have been disappointed. Especially now that _you_ are Ladybug! I mean, I feel like the luckiest guy in the world! And I'm not a lucky guy!"

Marinette smiled brightly at Adrien, her watery blue eyes gazing into Adrien's green eyes. "Gorgeous huh?" Adrien nodded enthusiastically and Marinette's heart soared. "I think I'm in love with you, Adrien." She bit her lip, she wanted it out there, but in the silent night, it had sounded so loud. Really, it was loud too, it was a declaration of her love for him; it was a loud, bold confession. Marinette held her breath waiting for a reply.

Adrien's eyes gleamed and he smiled brilliantly. "That's good!" Adrien leaned closer to her as if telling her a secret. "Because I think I'm in love with you too, Marinette."

Marinette stood up on her tiptoes, and Adrien leaned in. The pair's lips met and they knew that everything would be just fine… perfect even.

* * *

AN: Thank you all for sticking with my fic! It would mean a lot to me if you would check out my other stories! Tell me what you think in a review! If you want more, feel free to tell me so and if I am convinced I can write a little more! I love you all my claw-some readers!


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